By Gwurld4026 
Influencer Sued by Trans Military Pilot After Airport Crash
Transgender military pilot Jo Ellis has filed a defamation lawsuit against conservative influencer Matt Wallace, who falsely accused her of piloting the helicopter involved in the fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29, 2025. The crash, which involved a military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight, resulted in 67 fatalities.
Wallace, with over 2 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), posted Ellis’s photo, erroneously identifying her as the pilot and labeling the incident a “trans terror attack.” Although he later deleted the post and acknowledged his mistake, he attributed the misinformation to another deleted account.
Ellis, a 15-year veteran of the Virginia Army National Guard, stated that Wallace’s accusations endangered her safety, leading her to relocate and carry a firearm in public. Her lawsuit, supported by the Equality Legal Action Fund, seeks damages for reputational harm, which she has pledged to donate to the victims’ families.
Investigations have since attributed the crash to long-standing flight safety issues at the airport, and the Army confirmed that Ellis was not involved in the incident.